Roy Miller's Blog, page 196
May 9, 2017
Pearson Plans More Cuts, May Sell School Group
This content was originally published by on 8 May 2017 | 4:00 am.
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Pearson said it has plans to further reduce costs by $300 million, and it is also reviewing its strategic options for the K-12 courseware business.
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James Patterson plans true crime book on Aaron Hernandez
This content was originally published by Associated Press on 1 January 1970 | 12:00 am.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL player and convicted murderer found hanging by a bedsheet in prison last week, will be the subject of an upcoming true crime book by best-selling author James Patterson.
Little, Brown and Co. told The Associated Press on Thursday that Patterson’s book, not yet titled, is scheduled for early 2018. Patterson is also putting together a collection of true crime stories in partnership with Investigation Discovery, to come out on the TV network and in print next January.
Patterson, one of the world’s most popular and prolific novelists, said in a statement that he was “stunned” by Hernandez’s death and wanted to know “what went wrong.” He’s donating a portion of his author proceeds to education and reading initiatives.
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May 8, 2017
Allin Resigns as Wiley CEO
This content was originally published by on 8 May 2017 | 4:00 am.
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Citing family reasons, Mark Allin has resigned as CEO of John Wiley & Sons, effective immediately.
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New book focuses on local movement that torpedoed Boston’s 2024 Olympics bid
This content was originally published by Associated Press on 1 January 1970 | 12:00 am.
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BOSTON (AP) — The local movement that torpedoed Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics is the subject of a new book.
“No Boston Olympics: How and Why Smart Cities Are Passing on the Torch” is co-written by Chris Dempsey, a Boston resident who helped lead the opposition, and Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist.
The authors say the book tells the story of the Boston Olympics debate, but also provides a blueprint for those trying to challenge Olympic bids elsewhere. It’s slated for release Tuesday,
The U.S. Olympic Committee picked Boston to vie for the 2024 games, but Massachusetts political and business leaders quickly met stiff local resistance. They eventually withdrew from the competition in July 2015.
Los Angeles and Paris are the remaining candidates for the 2024 games.
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Bill Clinton, James Patterson Team Up for Novel
This content was originally published by on 8 May 2017 | 4:00 am.
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‘The President Is Missing,’ slated for June 2018, was sold in a joint deal to Knopf and Little, Brown.
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In new book, Ivanka Trump gets serious about women at work
This content was originally published by Associated Press on 1 January 1970 | 12:00 am.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Ivanka Trump’s first foray into self-help writing came in 2009 with “The Trump Card,” a breezy compilation of workplace advice, stories about her dealmaker dad and a hefty dose of celebrity namedropping.
But in her second book, released Tuesday, Trump has gone from sassy to serious.
“Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success” offers earnest advice for women on advancing in the workplace, balancing family and professional life and seeking personal fulfilment. She is donating the proceeds to charity and has opted not to do any publicity to avoid any suggestion that she is improperly using her White House platform.
It’s natural that Ivanka Trump’s thinking would evolve. Now 35, she is married and has had three children since she wrote the first book. She has also embraced advocacy for women, first at her fashion brand and now at the White House as an unpaid adviser.
She stepped away from executive roles at the Trump Organization and her fashion brand before joining her father’s administration, though she still owns the brand, which has prompted criticism from ethics experts that she could profit from her rising profile.
A look at her advice from both books:
WORKPLACE TIPS
THEN: Trump offers advice on technology — “check your BlackBerry or iPhone only on the quarter hour” — and warns against “loose-lipped, ill-considered emails.” She gives negotiating tips, such as “be aware of your physical presence” and “understand that people ask for more than they expect to get.” She talks about networking and building a brand, based on her jewelry line experience.
NOW: Trump also discusses how to juggle career and family and live a more purposeful life. She encourages readers to think about how they personally define success, and talks about setting goals, seeking mentors and establishing boundaries. She writes: “Long term, we aren’t remembered for how late we stayed at the office, how many buildings we developed or deals we closed.”
TIME MANAGEMENT
THEN: Noting she was always looking for an “edge,” Trump said that “as long as I can remember, I’ve been in the habit of coming into the office on Sundays.” She added that while she didn’t expect employees to follow suit, “you’d be surprised at how quickly your employees will fall in line behind you when you set this kind of example.”
NOW: In a chapter called “Work Smarter, Not Harder,” she says that when she became a mother she realized that she needed “to set healthier boundaries for myself and stick to them.” She encourages seeking accommodations at work, like asking for flextime or working remotely. “Divorcing ourselves from the reality that we all have full lives isn’t useful or sincere.”
GETTING PERSONAL
THEN: She dishes about growing up as Donald Trump’s daughter. Michael Jackson — at the time a Trump Tower resident — apparently attended a performance of the Nutcracker in which she danced as a child. Another memory: attending a Mike Tyson fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with her father and watching him try to calm an angry crowd after Tyson knocked out his opponent in 91 seconds.
NOW: There is less colorful insight, but Trump does share a few family moments, such as practicing her speech for the Republican National Convention with her three children on the couch. Trump, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, discusses observing the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to Saturday night, saying it is “important to unplug and devote that time to each other.”
GUEST STARS
THEN: Focusing on business success, Trump includes short essays from a variety of executives, featuring record producer Russell Simmons and Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post. A guest writer she probably wouldn’t include in the new book: former Fox News Channel executive Roger Ailes, who resigned last summer following allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances against women, which he has denied.
NOW: Trump looks more to academics and experts on women in the workforce, in addition to celebrities and politicians. She quotes Anne-Marie Slaughter, who five years ago wrote a popular essay in The Atlantic magazine on why she left a job in the State Department during President Barack Obama’s administration to spend more time with her family, and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, who wrote the book “Lean In,” urging women to take charge of their careers.
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A Debut Novel Skewers Startup Culture, Click by Click
This content was originally published by LARA VAPNYAR on 8 May 2017 | 11:00 am.
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D) Yes, but only if you’re sure that the sex will be worth risking your and your company’s future.
2. You are a young female employee of the hottest new startup in the country. You’ve been having casual sex with the C.E.O. but now want to stop. What would be the best way to break it off?
A) To have a straightforward adult conversation with the guy.
B) To ignore his texts, while Instagramming your new relationship.
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C) To quit your job.
D) To file a sexual harassment lawsuit and spill the details of the affair to a tech magazine.
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3. You are a young female reporter for said tech magazine (motto: “Tech news straight, no chaser”). You’re desperate for a scoop. You happen to be at the same party with said female employee and see her phone at the exact moment when she receives not one, but three photos of the erect penis of said C.E.O. with a text: “don’t tell me u don’t miss this.”
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What would be the most professional thing to do?
A) Pretend that you didn’t see anything.
B) Take photos of the penis and save them on your phone for future use (either work-related or masturbatory).
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C) Blackmail the female employee into giving you a scoop about her relationship with the C.E.O.
D) Publish the penis pictures in your tech news magazine along with an expository article that would potentially help all the harassed women in the workplace.
4. You’re a married father of two who works as the managing editor at a tech gossip magazine, but feels that he deserves much much more. You’ve heard of sexual harassment, but you think it cannot possibly apply to you, simply because you’re a decent guy. What would be the appropriate course of action toward your much younger female subordinate?
A) Complain about your wife to her every day 10 times a day.
B) Eagerly accept her invitation for a drink.
C) Order her more and more drinks until she’s sufficiently drunk to endure a kiss.
D) All of the above.
5. You are a reader of “Startup” who needs to form an opinion about the following five people. Which of them should inspire your sympathy?
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A) The C.E.O., Mack McAllister, because he is so lonely, clueless and hopeful, plus he has “somewhat ungainly ears,” which should automatically inspire sympathy.
B) The female employee, Isabel Taylor, because she is a woman struggling in a male-dominated work environment, and because she is capable of wearing a T-shirt that says “I
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C) The “rail thin” chain-smoking reporter, Katya Pasternack, simply because you share a Russian immigrant background.
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D) The managing editor, Dan Blum, because … he has to work a lot? I honestly don’t know why anybody would side with him.
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E) His frustrated wife, Sabrina Choe Blum, because she is the closest to you in age, and has two children like you do, and is a writer like you are, but she also happens to engage in unseemly activities that you don’t like. (You are O.K. with selling smelly underwear to horny men, but compulsive shopping terrifies you.)
I’ve struggled with Question 5 the most, but then I reminded myself that this was not a sexual harassment quiz but a satirical novel, so I definitely didn’t have an obligation to pick the right answer, or side with any of the characters. This revelation freed me to savor many delights of “Startup,” like the process of making the app that measures your mood and pretends to care or the struggle to ensure the most clicks and retweeting in the serious media, or detailed renditions of VC presentations, and especially my favorite — MorningRave.
“MorningRave, a monthly gathering devoted to the idea that the best way to start the day was with the excited energy of a clean-living dance party. It was a movement that in a previous generation might have been derided as corny, or Mormon. … At MorningRave, they danced alone and in pairs, with friends and with strangers. They danced on the stage and on the floor. One woman danced with a baby in a carrier attached to her torso. (The baby wore headphones.)”
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Most of my friends, myself included, start their days with either weeping or raging over their newsfeeds. MorningRave is one way to break that routine. Reading this book would be another.
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The post A Debut Novel Skewers Startup Culture, Click by Click appeared first on Art of Conversation.
New Literary Agent Alert: Blair Wilson of Park Literary & Media
This content was originally published by Cris Freese on 8 May 2017 | 10:00 am.
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Reminder: New literary agents (with this spotlight featuring Blair Wilson of Park Literary & Media) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.
About Blair: Since graduating from Wesleyan University with a focus on literature and theory, Blair has fallen in love with the voices of new and emerging authors. Blair is actively building her client list in the areas of middle grade and young adult fiction, as well as kids and adult non-fiction with a focus on D.I.Y., lifestyle, pop culture, pets, and books dealing with issues of sexuality, identity, and culture. In her spare time, Blair can be found teaching embroidery classes at the American Folk Art Museum, testing out a new cookbook, or settling in for a night of Hammer horror movies.
She is Seeking: Blair is actively looking for middle grade and young adult fiction, as well as MG, YA, and adult nonfiction. In nonfiction, Blair is interested in narrative nonfiction, crafting/instructional, true crime, pop culture, lifestyle, sexuality & identity, design, and STEM topics.
How to Submit: Send your query and accompanying materials to queries@parkliterary.com. Put “Blair Wilson” as well as the category and genre of your book (i.e. “Blair Wilson – YA Fantasy”) in the subject line of the email. All materials must be in the body of the email. For all fiction submissions, include a query letter and the first chapter or approximately the first ten pages of your work. For non-fiction submission, send a query letter, proposal, and one sample chapter or approximately ten pages.
The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent updated edition online at a discount.
If you’re an agent looking to update your information or an author interested in contributing to the GLA blog or the next edition of the book, contact Writer’s Digest Books Managing Editor Cris Freese at cris.freese@fwmedia.com.
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The post New Literary Agent Alert: Blair Wilson of Park Literary & Media appeared first on Art of Conversation.
May 7, 2017
Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: China Miéville on the Russian Revolution
This content was originally published by JOHN WILLIAMS on 7 May 2017 | 9:17 pm.
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What’s the most surprising thing you learned while writing it?
The extent to which you couldn’t make this up. I did this enormous amount of research, and I kept thinking how genuinely strange, as well as everything else, the story was. There are points of low farce where it’s a little on the nose. The one I always return to is the Kornilov affair, the proto-fascist military revolt menacing St. Petersburg in August, and there’s this one extraordinary exchange between Lavr Kornilov and Alexander Kerensky. They’re talking at cross-purposes. They’re misunderstanding each other in a way where if you wrote it as a novel or play, the editor would send it back saying, “You can’t stretch the credibility this much.” There are points in the narrative where you just gape — the one telephone line in the Winter Palace that was still alive, the provisional government kind of huddling under the table to use it.
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Alexander Kerensky, right, leading the Russian Army in 1917.
Credit
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone, via Getty Images
In what way is the book you wrote different from the book you set out to write?
I was disappointed that I didn’t have more on the art and fiction of the period — I wanted to make it substantial but not off-putting — and about one or two very extraordinary individuals. The first draft was much, much longer, as they tend to be. In winnowing it down to a narrative with its own propulsion, some of that had to go. I had to restrict myself to a few references and a few phrases here and there. That was one of the things I was agonized about.
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A painting (date unknown) from the Russian Revolution shows citizens awaiting a train.Credit
Associated Press
Conversely, it might sound odd, because I was expecting it to be moving, but the process was more moving. I found myself moved by researching and then writing in a way that was different and felt even more urgent and kind of blooded than I expected it to. And I hope that comes across. Not that I expected it to be a bone-dry book, but I felt like the sense of urgency was even greater than I expected it to be.
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Who is a creative person (not a writer) who has influenced you and your work?
It could be many people, but someone who’s been looming very large to me for years now is the painter Toyen, who was extraordinarily transgressive about gender and refused to be pinned down in a certain structure of patriarchy. Toyen was instrumental in setting up the Czech surrealist group in 1934; shielded a partner during the Nazi occupation; and remained active at 70.
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I always loved the Surrealists. Discovering them in my early teens was a very momentous experience for me. I have a particular love for drawing as opposed to painting, though I like painting, too. I find myself endlessly compelled by Toyen’s brutal dreamscapes in pen and ink.
Persuade someone to read “October” in less than 50 words.
The narrative of the Russian Revolution is as urgent and strange as that of any novel, and October is the key political event of the 20th century. We need its memory in these bleak, sadistic times. This is an attempt to tell the astonishing, inspiring story.
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This interview, conducted by email, has been condensed and edited.
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The post Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: China Miéville on the Russian Revolution appeared first on Art of Conversation.
10 New Books We Recommend This Week
This content was originally published by on 4 May 2017 | 3:38 pm.
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WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE: Stories, by Deb Olin Unferth. (Graywolf, paper, $16.) The 39 entries in Unferth’s collection, her second, alternate between longer tour-de-force tales and flash fiction. All are delivered with a wit and concision reminiscent of Lydia Davis and Diane Williams, a wry intelligence and keen irony that don’t prevent Unferth’s prose from offering deep emotional intimacy.
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THE BOOK OF JOAN, by Lidia Yuknavitch. (Harper/HarperCollins, $26.99.) In this brilliant and incendiary new novel, a post-apocalyptic Joan of Arc story mixing realism and fabulism, Earth, circa 2049, has been devastated by global warming and war; the wealthy live on a suborbital complex ruled by a billionaire celebrity turned dictator. In his review, Jeff VanderMeer writes, “‘The Book of Joan’ has the same unflinching quality as earlier works by Josephine Saxton, Doris Lessing, Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and J.G. Ballard. Yet it’s also radically new, full of maniacal invention and page-turning momentum.”
TELL ME HOW IT ENDS: An Essay in Forty Questions, by Valeria Luiselli. (Coffee House, paper, $12.95.) This moving, intimate narrative about the migration of children from Central America is based in part on the author’s experience as a volunteer court translator. Luiselli reminds the reader that the brutal details of these children’s stories have been reported before; her portrait of migration is intended to complicate, rather than resolve or clarify, and to establish the moral and emotional foundation of her work.
MERCIES IN DISGUISE: A Story of Hope, a Family’s Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them, by Gina Kolata. (St. Martin’s, $25.99.) A veteran Times science writer tells the story of a South Carolina family plagued by a rare hereditary neurodegenerative disorder. She presents both biomedical research on the disease and an unflinching look at the stark realities — physical, emotional and financial — of living with it.
THE GIVERS: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age, by David Callahan. (Knopf, $28.95.) A new breed of megadonors is poised to reshape American society to an unprecedented degree, Callahan argues in his engaging, thought-provoking account. The founder and editor of the website Inside Philanthropy, Callahan knows the game and its players, and he offers a peek inside a rarefied, poorly understood world with ever greater power to remake the broader world.
THE OUTRUN, by Amy Liptrot. (Norton, $25.95.) Seeking sobriety and renewal, a writer returns to the Orkney Islands, her childhood home, in this gorgeous debut memoir. Closer in spirit to the work of the naturalist Rick Bass than to the hard-drinking tales of Caroline Knapp or Augusten Burroughs, the book becomes a personal travelogue of the Orkneys, their numinous geology and mystical history.
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UNDERGROUND FUGUE, by Margot Singer. (Melville House, $25.99.) In London, the lives of four troubled people, including a grieving American woman and an Iranian-born research scientist, intersect during the summer of the 2005 terrorist bombings. The characters in this first novel are constructed with depth and richness, and Singer’s London emerges as a place of missed connections, miscommunications and misinterpretations.
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The post 10 New Books We Recommend This Week appeared first on Art of Conversation.
